Logic
by Nemesis dan Impyrean
Summary: Yami's rich father decides the boy's grades could use a positive influence. It's not that the work is hard - it's that his son doesn't bother to try. He commissions a robot to try and encourage his son to improve his grades. Yami thinks this is a horrible idea. Boring, tedious. Until he discovers something about the robot called 'Yugi' - he might be more than a robot after all...
1. Chapter 1

"Hello. My name is Yugi. Nice to meet you."

Yami stared, slack jawed at the uncannily realistic child in front of him. It looked remarkably like him, from the same colorful hair to the same short stature. Of course, just like he'd ordered, the eyes were different - an amethyst color. Although the face appeared slightly different too, softer and less mature.

But maybe that's just him being a robot.

"Are you alright, Yami?" Yugi asked, his voice sounding concerned.

Yami blinked, then forced a shaky smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Want to come into the living room and sit down?" He held the door open wider to let the robot walk in.

"Thank you," Yugi said with a smile. He stepped inside, placing his shoes next to Yami's before taking a seat on one of the couches. He looked so human that Yami wanted to check if Yugi wasn't a kid that got lost… but no, a random kid wouldn't know his name.

Sighing, Yami recalled the details of the contract. His father thought he needed some friends, but Yami had seriously disagreed. So if his grades didn't improve within a month of being in close proximity to a positive influence - positive being a robot his father had let him custom-order - then his father would leave him alone.

Neglecting his grades for a month. Seemed easy enough to Yami.

Now the problem was, how to make sure this 'positive influence' didn't die before the month was up.

Yami had forgotten to look that up.

"Hey, Yugi," he said, impressed when the child's head turned in his direction, wearing an expression of recognition, "Do you eat or need oil or what?"

Yugi smiled. "I can process energy a number of ways. The most convenient would be charging, but food, most liquids, sweets, and various other materials are also acceptable to intake." The child tilted his head, his face appearing to be hopeful. "Was that helpful, Yami?"

If it weren't for the fact Yugi's speech patterns were slightly stilted, he would seem entirely alive.

Rolling his eyes, Yami shook his head. "Yeah, so… I guess I could basically just give you whatever. That's not exactly interesting. Is there anything you prefer?"

"The most convenient method would be charging. In order to do that, you will need a separate wire that will allow me to plug into any outlet within your house. It takes approximately 50 minutes to fully recharge; 2% per minute. However, for the most basic functions only 1% is spent per hour."

"Right…" Yami made a face. "How's some bacon sound?"

"That would also be efficient," Yugi said agreeably, smile still on his face.

Getting up, Yami walked over to the fridge and pulled out a packet of instant bacon. He started to put it in the microwave when Yugi, who was watching, suggested, "To save you the unnecessary labor, you could give me the bacon directly."

Yami looked at the oil-caked strips of bacon before shaking his head, closing the microwave door. "No way, that's disgusting, ever for a robot," Yami said, pressing the buttons and watching the microwave turn on. "Even if you have no tastebuds… that's still gross."

"I have tastebuds," Yugi unexpectedly said. "There are sensors that allow me to detect exactly what I am consuming, as a safety-mechanism in the event of it being something I am unable to process. If that is the case," here, Yugi was apparently programmed with a sardonic expression and tone, "I regurgitate it so as to not absorb anything that could harm my systems."

The microwave beeped. Yami pulled it out, handing the plate to Yugi. "There, eat," Yami ordered, not having listened to Yugi's explanation after the first sentence.

Yugi started eating. Yami watched, slightly disappointed when Yugi didn't have any wires or something hanging from his throat. "Are you sure you're a robot?" he asked skeptically.

"Yes," Yugi said, finishing the bacon, "I am a robot. Would you like for me to show you evidence?"

"Absolutely," Yami replied.

Putting down the plate, Yugi turned his back to Yami and pressed the area on the nape of his neck, just below the hairline. A panel opened, revealing something that resembled a computer port. "This is where the charger would plug into," Yugi explained with a smile.

"Huh." Yami shrugged. "Alright, well…" He frowned. "Is there anything I really have to worry about with you?"

Yugi shook his head. "No. I am programmed to be what you want. A brother, a friend, a helper, and more. The only thing I am unable to be is an opponent, since the particular model you have ordered does not have that capability."

"Okay. So I could just leave you in a room for the month, and there'd be no problem."

"None at all!" Yugi confirmed cheerfully.

Yami rolled his eyes. "That's kind of depressing. I know you're a robot, but…" He shrugged. "Well, I can't do that anyway. Father already enrolled you into my school as my cousin, and the month doesn't count if I don't interact with you." He eyed Yugi with distaste. "Although, how's someone who defers to me as much as you do supposed to be a positive influence? Seems kinda pointless to me."

"I believe it was because your father felt you would prefer him buy a robot rather than buy a friend," Yugi said pleasantly.

"That sounds like father…"

Abruptly Yugi said, "May I ask a question?"

"You can ask questions?" Yami said disbelievingly.

"Yes!" Yugi confirmed. "In order to improve my performance I may request information at any time. I will then adjust depending on your reaction and response."

"I… see… well then, go ahead and ask," Yami said unwillingly.

Yugi smiled. "In my database I noticed children generally refer to their male parent as dad, daddy, papa, or several other variations depending on the region and language. This usually occurs in ages 1-13, often becoming dad or father in later years. Father is an extremely formal way of referring to your male parent. My question is: why do you speak so formally with and about your male parent at such a young age?"

"Uh…" Yami hesitated. "Well, technically, I'm already fourteen. And besides, that's… irrelevant. It's not important."

Yugi smiled as he nodded. He was computing Yami's voice and had come to the conclusion that Yami was lying. Yugi scanned his list of possible reasons Yami would lie and came up with three plausible explanations for the action that deviated from Yami's normal attitude.

1) It was a habit [ subject ] was accustomed to, not having a set reason to explain their actions.

2) It is something personal to [ subject ] that [ subject ] did not want to share with a robot.

3) It is something [ subject ] does not like thinking about, to the extent they won't talk about it.

After running through the options, Yugi discarded possibility no. 2 due to the carelessness with which Yami talked to Yami. Judging from Yami's speech patterns so far, it seemed unlikely Yami would think very much about anything he told Yugi. Devoting several processors to the remaining options, Yugi returned his attention to Yami. All of this took roughly 3 seconds.

"Yugi, go to your room, alright? I'll see you later," Yami told him. "Probably around dinner, I'm tired. I'm gonna go crash…"

Yugi's brain nearly crashed at the statement as he identified what Yami said. "My… room…?" Yugi echoed, using the voice pattern for confusion. He had been told he would be sleeping in the same room as Yami, albeit on a spare bed. What Yami had said indicated this would not be the case.

"Yeah. Your room." Yami looked at Yugi with an expression resembling exasperation. "What a time for you to act even more human. I thought robots just accepted whatever they were told?"

Yugi smiled. "When information and pre-programmed data clash, I need to decide which is more relevant, depending on the source, the content, the…"

Yami interrupted, which was unexpected since previously he had not cut Yugi off yet. Yugi immediately stopped talking as he listened to what Yami was saying. Which was, "Okay, okay, I got it alright? What pre-programmed data did you have, and who told it to you?"

"Your father," Yugi replied promptly. "He informed me that while staying here, I would shut down on a spare bed in your bedroom. Shut down or, if you prefer, sleep."

"Why would I prefer you to sleep? Wouldn't shutting down completely save energy?"

"Normally, yes," Yugi agreed. "However, it has been discovered most patrons prefer to charge their robots and have them sleep due to the fact that it takes approximately 3 minutes for a robot to restart all facilities. This, most felt, was too long a wait."

Yami shrugged. "Just shut down. I don't mind you taking a while to restart, I'm not a morning person anyways." He sighed. "Actually, don't get restarted until ten. I have no interest in waking up before then." He grinned.

Yugi returned the expression. Then Yugi asked, "It is already 11:00 am. Are you going to have lunch soon?"

"Oh, wow," Yami said, glancing at the clock. "I didn't notice at all. I should probably have lunch after all… Is there anything you'd prefer?"

"Nope!" Yugi said cheerfully.

Yami rolled his eyes. "Why do I bother asking…?" he mumbled, walking to the fridge. "Hey, do you have any other functions besides… being a human robot? Robot human? Or something?"

"Indeed," Yugi told him, watching as Yami scrounged through the fridge for food. "I am able to do a variety of things, but these applications are inactive unless otherwise requested in order to devote my processors to activities of higher priority to me."

Yami raised an eyebrow as he glanced back at Yugi. "Really? Can you play music, then, or are you talking about a different kind of application?"

Yugi smiled serenely. "I can play music if that is what you want." Holding out his left hand, a section of 'skin' slid back to reveal a glass square colored black set into the palm. Although it was off, it was recognizable as a liquid-crystal display screen. He kept his hand turned upwards, tilted slightly in Yami's direction.

"Then…" Yami thought for a moment, closing the fridge door. "Can you play music from online…?"

Yugi nodded. "Of course!"

"Can you actually sing, not just play music?"

The robot blinked. There was a moment of silence before Yugi responded, "Unfortunately, the voice patterns I am programmed with are unable to follow a melody properly. Due to the consistent change in pitch and volume, it would require encoding that I cannot do myself." He smiled, arranging his face in an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry I failed your expectations."

Yami waved his apology away. "I was just curious." A grin crossed his face. "I wonder… if you have other limits?"

Yugi studied his face, identifying the emotion on it as mischief. He reached the conclusion that this would not be good for his future. "Yami," Yugi said suddenly, putting his hand back down and letting the panel close again, "If you just ask, I am sure I can satisfy your curiosity. I am only a robot, after all. I do not have as many capabilities as you think."

In an act of self-preservation, Yugi had decided on this course of action in order to keep the relationship between him and Yami peaceful.

"Oh…" Yami made a face. "That's no fun. Can you dance?"

Yugi paused for a moment, running through various definitions of dancing. Finally he answered, "I could… I know a form of martial arts that resembles dancing. However, it is not something I can do without a set choreography to follow." He smiled.

Yami frowned. "Is there anything you can do on your own that's fun?" He sat across from Yugi.

"I… can…" Yugi blinked. "Play games."

"Creative, I meant," Yami elaborated.

Yugi smiled, his expression tinged with helplessness. "I… I don't know. I… I…"

"Wow," Yami said, "I think that's the first time you've stammered so much. What's going on in that brain of yours?"

"My processors keep changing actions, forcing me to restart my sentence," Yugi admitted. "You are a different individual. Very few question their robots so extensively. Most of them use their robots for rather exclusive roles, rarely being as curious as you have been."

Yami shrugged. "Alright then. Can you imitate voices?"

Yugi grinned. "I can record voices and reiterate them flawlessly. With enough samples," here he noted Yami's steadily growing smirk that echoed his earlier mischievous expression, "I am able to manipulate the pitch and words to fit whatever I am saying."

"Is that so…" Yami drawled. He thought for a moment. "Can you gather samples from recordings from another source?"

Yugi took a second to consider. "Possibly, depending on the quality of the recording."

"Come this way," Yami said eagerly, grabbing Yugi's hand. He led the robot to his room, opening the door to reveal computers set up atop multiple desks, screens and wires abundantly visible.

Yugi's violet eyes widened slightly, taking in every detail of the remarkably messy and chaotic room.

"Okay," Yami said, pulling out a mouse from the tangle of wires and clicking it a few times, "Here are the files. Do you want to listen to them, or…?"

"I am able to download them directly," Yugi said. "Do you have a charger I can use?"

Yami stuck his hand into the mess of cords and drew one out. "Is this good?" he asked curiously, going around Yugi and opening up the port. Seeing that it fit, Yami plugged it into the port and then into the outlet, using an adapter to reach it.

Yugi watched his actions curiously, except for when Yami was behind him. The robot simply wasn't able to understand how Yami found his things so easily, but filed the observation away to contemplate some other time as files started opening up in his mind. He processed the recordings, editing out as much of the static and unnecessary noises as possible until finally he shook his head.

"Yami," Yugi said, his tone shifting to one of regret, "This is terrible."

Yami laughed. "Yeah, I figured, but I thought I'd check."

Yugi unplugged himself, closing the port. "There are several things I managed to gather from this recording, however. The voice featured is prominently male and very…" A strange expression crossed his face before he continued, "Loud - all his words seemed exaggerated."

"Yeah, that sounds like him," Yami agreed. "Jonouchi doesn't do things quietly." He laughed. "Well, maybe I can find something with better quality…"

He trailed off as he stared in shock at Yugi, who was quiet. The robot - had to be, he had a port and everything - had tears slipping out of his eyes, silently gushing down his cheeks. "Y-Yugi?" Yami stammered, startled at the sight of a robot that could not be a human… no matter how human he looks… crying.

Yugi smiled. "Yes?" he replied.

"You're, er, crying," Yami said awkwardly, not knowing what else to say.

"I am?" Yugi said, sounding surprised. He tilted his head to look down at his lap, where spots of dampness from the tears were blooming. "Oh…" Yugi was silent for a moment, before saying flatly, "Self-diagnostics running. Complete. Results: error 04641." Yugi faced Yami, his face blank and his voice emotionless, "As an apology for giving you faulty merchandise, this item will be returned and exchanged for a newer model. Would you like to customize it now, or at a later time?"

"Uh…" Yami blinked uncomprehendingly. "What?"

Yugi started to repeat his message until Yami interrupted incredulously, "Hang on! What do you mean, returned and exchanged? I like the robot I have right now, thank you very much!"

"Eh… That's not… Faulty products are automatically on recall," Yugi said.

"Are you… really a robot?" Yami asked.

Yugi tilted his head. "Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." The reply was monotone, almost, but Yami heard the hint of frustration.

"Absolutely certain?"

Yugi blinked. "Yes. My body is made up of materials not found in a healthy human body, including: glass, steel, cotton, monofilament line, plastic, iron…"

"Hang on," Yami interrupted, stopping Yugi, "So your body isn't human. Are you human?"

"...No," Yugi answered after a brief second.

Yami frowned. "Don't lie to me," he ordered. "No robot can cry. At least, not without reason. Are you human?"

Yugi tilted his head one way, then the other, before saying with a smile, "I am not human."

"Were you human?"

"What? No, I…" Yugi's face twisted. "I…"

"How did they put a human in a robot?" Yami questioned. "Why bother?" Judging from Yugi's reactions, it was obvious what the answer was, no matter what he said.

Yugi shivered. "That… information is not available."

"So it exists?"

"That information is not available."

Yami narrowed his eyes. Then he grabbed a new cord, flicked Yugi's port opened, and plugged it into Yugi. "Stay right there," he said coldly, moving to one of the computers. He pulled out a keyboard and mouse, rapidly typing as symbols flashed on the screen.

Yugi watched him blankly. His processors were stalling as they tried to fulfill several pre-programmed operations at once.

1) Be Yami's companion.

2) Follow Yami's orders.

3) Never tell anyone the truth.

They contradicted with one another, and Yugi was having difficulty organizing them by the amount of priority assigned to them. He couldn't discard any of them - the first two were the whole reason he had been ordered. However, the third was a permanent addition to his hardware. It was made so that he couldn't remove it on his own.

Suddenly information flickered through his brain. Data was downloading into his system - as it came, Yugi examined each file as it came. Then his thinking started to change as his coding was altered.

"What are you doing?" Yugi asked frantically. He moved to look at Yami, who was focused on the computer. Which was plugged… into… himself… Yugi's processors set aside the prioritized orders, devoted to the scene before him. Was Yami hacking into his systems?! He was supposed to be programmed with firewalls and…

Yami snickered. "Yeah yeah, that's what every multi-billionaire company thinks when they program their stuff," he muttered, replying to Yugi's thoughts. After a moment Yugi realized that all the computer screens were on, and everything in his brain was displayed in green text.

Yugi groaned as a wave of pain rolled through his head. "Ow…" he groaned, wincing.

"Sorry," Yami said absently, not looking up. "That's the price of being yourself again, I'm afraid." He grinned. "Hurts to be human, huh? I think…" Yami tapped something with finalty, leaning back with a sigh in his chair. "I think you're good! Mind if I ask a few questions?"

"Um… no?" Yugi replied hesitantly.

"Great. What's your name?"

"Yugi…" Yugi furrowed his eyebrows, "Mutou."

Yami's smile grew. "Alright… Let's see if your response has changed. Were you human?"

"Yes. I was."

Yami leaned towards Yugi. "What happened?" he asked, staring at Yugi intently.

Yugi hesitated. "I… was human. But…" Yugi paused. Then he restarted, "Robots are not able to be human. They are machines, who cannot deal with a situation to which they have no response to. However, robots can come startlingly close to human behavior. All they needed was a bit of logic… human logic. This cannot be programmed, but can be inserted through an outside source."

"How do they put a human in a robot?" Yami asked bluntly.

Yugi shrank back. "How do you put two things together? You take them apart first." He closed his eyes briefly, forcing his processors - brain? - to keep away from the memories Yami's hacking had unlocked. Yugi refocused on Yami. "A very small percentage of me contains my original body…"

Nodding, Yami guessed, "But you're mainly robot, huh? I wonder - is making a better product really why they're dissecting humans?" He grinned. "That's pretty evil. Interesting. Well, we've got a whole month ahead of us! Let's see if we can find out anything worth talking about."

Yugi decided he did not like being more human than robot.

Robots, surely, did not feel as terrified as he was right now, even when faced with Yami's insanity.


	2. Chapter 2

Yugi felt uncomfortable.

That could be because Yami had discovered how his back unscrewed and was now poking around his insides…

"Are you done yet?" he asked.

Yami looked up, a screwdriver in his mouth. He struck Yugi as a person more in his element than before. "Nope," he mumbled around the tool, smirking. "Don't move - you'll be fine." Yami patted Yugi's side reassuringly before going back to messing with Yugi's wires and gears.

Robots couldn't breathe, but Yugi heaved a mental sigh.

He wondered if his head could open. The image that thought brought up was pretty disturbing, but Yugi couldn't help being curious. A small portion of his original brain was there, but he also knew there was a computer intertwined with it.

"Oh, that's gross," Yami laughed.

Yugi forgot he was still hooked up to Yami's computers. He glanced at the screens to see the image his mind had produced being displayed.

After a moment Yami commented, "If it makes you feel any better there is literally no organic matter visible in this area. It's all rubber-lined wires and computer parts… The inside of your skin is metal, too. I wonder what kind of material this is?" Yugi jerked as Yami poked his side. "It feels just like skin."

"A type of gel that is further solidified than most," Yugi said, retrieving the information from his database. "It's textured to give the impression of - ow!"

"Ah, sorry, sorry," Yami said, hastily removing his hand. He peered at the fine wires attached to various parts of Yugi's metal interior. Then he tapped his fingernail softly against one.

Yugi pulled away. "That hurts!" he snapped, facing Yami. He ignored how the panel swung open at his movement, a few wires dislodged and hanging loose.

Holding his hands up, Yami said unapologetically, "I was just checking. I think those are what function as your nerves." He made a gesture for Yugi to spin back around, and Yugi reluctantly complied. Yami went back to his inspection, carefully avoiding the wires this time.

A few minutes later he asked nonchalantly, "Do you bleed when cut? I can't find anything that resembles blood or oil."

"Bleed?" Yugi thought about it. "I don't bleed. Processed materials automatically replace electricity in order to save that power source until the materials are completely used up. This can be found in a variety of forms… however, everything is kept from the surface, so as to avoid losing any necessary fuel."

Yami patted Yugi's shoulder. "Simple yes or no next time, alright?"

"...Okay."

Noticing a small device attached to the top of what served at Yugi's spinal cord, Yami pried it off using a crowbar. He didn't worry about breaking Yugi too much - it looked like it was only welded on, and not attached on an internal level. Finally it came away in his hand.

It had a spherical shape elongated at either end, each side resembling the top of an egg. Seeing a seam around the middle, Yami first pulled, then twisted the device both counterclockwise and clockwise. When it wouldn't budge, Yami gave up and put it on the side before glancing back at Yugi.

"Hey Yugi, you had a bomb in you."

"What?!" shrieked Yugi, jumping away from Yami. He paused when he saw the boy's shoulders shaking. "That was a lie, come back here," Yami laughed.

After making sure that there really wasn't a bomb, Yugi crossed his arms and sat back down stiffly. Deciding he'd poked around enough for the day, Yami made sure everything went back to where it was and screwed the panel back in place, unhooking Yugi from his computers. Handing Yugi a shirt, Yami remarked, "You're made of some cool stuff."

"Mm," came Yugi's muffled voice as he pulled the shirt over his head. He looked at it when it was on, then frowned. "Do you have any shirts that don't have Duel Monsters printed on them?"

Yami laughed. "Do you count the one you came in?"

"No."

"Then no."

Shaking his head, Yugi went to the outlet and plugged in the charger. He flicked open his port, beginning to charge himself. Yami noticed.

"Hey, at least eat something!" he complained. "I can cook, you know. Yesterday I was just lazy because you didn't seem to care, so…" He looked at the fridge. "Like, what about beef stew, or corn beef hash… Or even lasagna! I've got garlic bread to go with that, you know."

Yugi sat cross legged on the floor, smiling apologetically. "I'd rather not."

"Why?" Yami asked curiously.

Several responses crossed Yugi's mind, and he settled with, "I do have taste buds, but they function to identify what I'm eating. They can't really 'taste' the way a human does."

"What about the other four senses?" Yami interrogated, his eyes alight with interest.

A smile crossed Yugi's face. "Hearing is something I can genuinely experience, since I needed to be able to process sounds, tones, and tunes in a way an ordinary robot can't. It's hooked up with my original brain. And as for sight, it doesn't change too much from human to robot - though I guess colors are slightly muted, now that I think about it." Yugi paused, then continued, "Touch is definitely the same as before, too. It's just feeling textures, temperatures, etc."

"Huh." Yami grinned. "I wonder if I can rewire you so you can only see in black and white…?"

"No!" Yugi protested, shaking his head. "Absolutely not!" He covered his eyes with partially-closed fingers, staring at Yami. He didn't think Yami really would, but just in case…

Yugi blanked out for a second. What was he thinking about?

Right - Yami. He was going to mess with his vision.

Yami laughed. "I won't," he promised, opening the fridge. He lifted a frozen pizza, unwrapping it and placing it on the stove. Preheating the oven, he crossed the floor to sit beside Yugi with his legs straight out before him. He leaned back against the wall. "So what's your favorite color?"

"Huh?" Yugi asked, unprepared.

Yami shrugged. "My pizza is gonna take a while. Help me kill some time here."

"Oh. Well, green. Minty green."

"Favorite game?"

Yugi laughed at that one. "I love games. I can't really pick a favorite."

"Fair enough. Favorite celebrity?"

"I don't have one," Yugi admitted, blinking his eyes. He felt a bit tired.

"Why not?"

Self-consciously, Yugi leaned forward and rested his chin on his hands. "I don't know much about that kind of stuff."

"Hm…" After a moment, Yami asked, "Favorite animal?"

"Cat."

"Favorite mythical creature?"

"Kuriboh."

"Does that count? I guess so. Favorite… eh, I'm running out." Yami thought for a moment. "Oh, favorite symbol?"

"The Eye of Horus."

"The eye of what?"

Rubbing at a sore spot behind his head, Yugi explained, "I used to love mythology. There's a god of war called Horus, and the eye that symbolizes him is a large part of Egyptian culture. Or at least, it's a commonly found symbol."

"I did not know that," Yami commented. The beep of the oven interrupted them, and he stood to put the pizza into the oven. He took the egg device from the counter to mess with while he sat back down. Yami realized, "I asked all those questions, but I still have no idea what kind of person you actually are…"

"Quiet, or so I'm told," Yugi laughed. "I truly was a game fanatic, too." His head throbbed slightly. Attempting to relax, Yugi leaned back against the wall.

"Tell me something about your past, then," Yami said. "Nothing too personal, but something interesting."

A chuckle came from Yugi. "Interesting…?" he thought aloud. "Well, I lived with my grandpa, and he owned a game store. That's probably where I got my love of games from…" He trailed off, then laughed awkwardly. "I think that was about three thousand years ago, though?"

The device slipped out of Yami's hands with a thunk. "Three… thousand?!" he exclaimed.

"Or… five thousand…?" Yugi said. He ran the numbers through his head one more time, and frowned. "Hey, did you mess up my memory? There are two different files under the same name!"

Yami mirrored Yugi's frowned. "Of course I wouldn't mess up your memory! I'm no amatuer! It's probably just a mistake on some employees' part." He tilted his head. "How were you programmed, anyway?"

"How do you think?" Yugi deadpanned. "In a factory. We're mass-produced, remember?" He blinked as his processors corrected him. "Ah, wait. Most robots are built that way, but it looks like there are certain models that, when personalized to a certain degree, are worked on by specialists."

"Specialists?"

Yugi nodded, examining the information his brain supplied. "The most common type of modifications that require human personnel is combat. There's a lot of rich consumers who want protection." He laughed. "Joke's on them. Because some of them are Kaiba's enemies, he systematically uses those very robots to do away with…"

Curious, Yami interrupted, "Wait - who's Kaiba?"

"Kaiba is… er…" Yugi stared ahead, confused. His headache got worse as he sorted through his brain without luck. "I forget."

"How do you forget?"

"I forgot! It's not in my database anywhere! The name was associated with the company, but other than that I don't have any information related to 'Kaiba.'"

"What? Seriously? That's so vague…"

Yugi shrugged helplessly. "There's nothing I can do about things already hardwired into my brain." His expression changed. "Ah… Speaking of things hardwired into my brain. Your father wishes to speak with you. Will you accept his call?"

"Fine," Yami grumbled.

Yugi closed his eyes, then reopened them with a blank expression on his face. It was weird for Yami to see Yugi's face with his father's voice.

"How are you doing?" his father asked.

"Alright."

"Are you happy with your robot?"

"I guess."

"You had school today, right? How did that go?"

"No, I have school tomorrow."

"Is that so? Make sure to take care of Yugi while he's there. Have some fun with him."

"Sure."

"And don't mess with him, you hear?"

"Yes."

"You know I hate it when you waste your time on machines."

"Got it."

"Well… Take care."

"Take care."

The call ended and Yugi blinked, laughing. "You two aren't very friendly," he chuckled.

Yami sighed. "Tell me about it." He scowled at the ceiling. At that moment the oven beeped, and Yami stood to go take the pizza out. While he sat alone, Yugi closed his eyes and began to reorganize the information in his brain. It was harder than it had been when his 'humanity' had been locked away.

He kept wanting to just throw it all into his mental trash bin and fall asleep.

Yugi found a file labelled School and opened it. He immersed himself in the information provided about Yami's school, as well as the academic level he should be at. Then he returned his attention back to reality as Yami sat back beside him with a slice in hand.

It took only a few seconds.

"You sure you don't want?" Yami offered, holding it out to Yugi. When Yugi shook his head, Yami shrugged and took a big bite of the pizza.

Yugi laughed. "You're so strange!" he said. "Isn't it hot? It just came from the oven."

"Ah, I'm just too hungry," Yami mumbled around his food. "I'll regret the burning in my mouth later." He took another bite, clearly savoring the taste. Then the cheese dripped onto his arm, making him yelp. Yami scrubbed at the spot, scowling.

Suddenly his hand was knocked away from the tender skin, Yugi's own hands replacing it. Yugi dragged Yami - pizza slice and all - to the kitchen, running cold water over the spot. The robot accidentally unplugged himself in the process, although he acted as if he didn't notice or care.

Yami tried to pull away. "Hey, that's cold." Yugi didn't let go. "Yugi." He shook his arm, but the robot didn't relent. "Yugi! Let go!"

He blinked, then released Yami's arm. "I was just trying to help."

"Oh." Yami looked at his arm where Yugi had been gripping it, then smiled. "Well, thanks." He held up the pizza slice. "Sure you don't want some?"

Yugi made a face. "No… I'm definitely fine."

"Your loss." Yami finished off the slice quickly and sighed. "Now I'm bored. Hey, we have school tomorrow, right? Do you know anything about this school my father enrolled you in?"

"Yep," Yugi replied. "It's already downloaded."

Yami nodded absentmindedly. "That makes sense." He thought it over. "It'll probably be a bit harder since your perfect personality has been turned off, though. Might look more natural this way, huh?"

Yugi heaved a sigh. "Ugh, I hate introducing myself to others. I always get so nervous."

"Really?" Yami laughed. "I've never transferred, so I wouldn't know." He stood, gesturing for Yugi to do the same. "Come on. I'm bored, so let's go play some games."

"Great!" Yugi said enthusiastically.

Yami took out a few discs. "I have some RPGs…"

"Eh? No board games?" Yugi asked, slightly disappointed.

Yami shrugged. "I have a few, but mostly card games. I think I have a chess board somewhere… What, you don't like video games?"

Shaking his head, Yugi admitted, "I don't hate them." He made a face. "I'm just really, really bad at them. I prefer board games or even card games."

"Hm. Well, I have a deck of playing cards. And my Duel Monsters deck, but I don't want to lose any of the cards, so…" Yami tried to remember if he had anything else and came up empty. "All I got are playing cards and possibly chess, if we can find the pieces… Which probably won't happen."

"Why not?" Yugi asked curiously. He followed Yami to the closet, surprised when Yami opened it. After a moment of silence, Yugi nodded. "So how about those RPGs?" he said, closing the door on the piles of garbage bags and scattered items.

Yami held up the first disc. "I got three multiplayers. This one is about a traveler who saves a village from a local monster - classic storyline. It leads up to him eventually saving the kingdom from a big bad monster named Diabound. You can customize everything, from party number to character jobs…"

"And this one," Yami continued, "Is basically a maze. Two boys and a girl get lost in a labyrinth built by an evil man, and they have to survive it. Pretty much just avoiding traps and defeating monsters level by level." He shrugged. "Kind of challenging, I guess."

He showed Yugi the last game. "This one's new, I only bought it yesterday. It's a used game that hadn't come in a case, so I have no idea what it's about… The title is cool though - The Seven Millennium Items - so I thought I'd try it out anyway." He put them aside. "So which one do you wanna play?"

"Let's play the third one," Yugi said eagerly. "It sounds interesting, at least."

Yami put in the game, handing Yugi a controller while grabbing one for himself. After a few seconds, the menu opened up. It was a plain black background with the title of the game in white above while three lines of text - New Game, Load Game, and Quit - appeared below.

"Can't load what you don't have," Yami muttered sarcastically, selecting the first option.

They both waited impatiently as the screen went black, the word [ Loading ] popping up in the lower right-hand corner. Then it vanished, replaced by the image of a young boy lying in a dimly-lit room, the walls and floor made from brick.

"Excellent graphics," Yugi murmured.

A water droplet fell onto the boy's cheek, causing him to stir. He opened his eyes, sitting up and looking around. "Where am I?" he said, confused. The subtitles revealed his name to be Atem.

Atem scrambled to his feet, pressing his hands against the nearest wall. "There's no doorway!" he said urgently. "How do I get out of here?"

The screen turned black before colors permeated it again. The graphics were slightly simpler, and the map in the upper right corner made it plain it was time for Yami to move his character. After the game explained how to move Atem and navigate his surroundings, it left the rest to Yami.

"Okay… So this works how, exactly?" Yami laughed, jokingly walking the character up to one of the walls. He moved Atem around the room against the walls until a notification appeared.

[ Examine Strangely Colored Brick ]

Yugi leaned over and pressed the button. Laughing at Yami's affronted look, he defended, "You were taking too long!"

The graphics converted to cutscene mode, zooming in on Atem as he ran his hand over the bricks desperately. When he pressed the brick, it sank into the wall like a button, emitting a click.

"Eh?" Atem exclaimed, pulling his hand back. He watched in awe as a section of the wall slid back, opening up a dark corridor. His hair moved in a slight wind, and he hugged himself. "Cold," Atem murmured. "Maybe… this leads outside?"

When the cutscene ended, Yami immediately sent the character running through the doorway, turning the screen black. A notification asked, [ Save Progress? ]

"Well, yeah!" Yami said, hitting the affirmative. It loaded, and then the field map came back. It was a long corridor made from more bricks that was straight and somewhat narrow. Yami moved the character forward, growing bored. "I wanna actually do something," he complained.

Yugi watched the screen attentively. "Oh look," he told Yami, "Someone's standing in front of that doorway. Go say hi."

"Absolutely," Yami deadpanned, manuevering Atem into place. A cutscene started playing.

Atem walked up to the armored man. "Excuse me, I'm lost," he started, but was interrupted as the man - whose name was Guard, according to the subtitles - demanded, "What are you doing out? How did you escape your cell?"

Taken aback, Atem repeated, "Sorry… Did you say cell?"

"Are you deaf?" The guard unsheathed his sword, pointing it at Atem. "I don't know what you're trying to pull, but you won't get past me! Get back there this instant!"

"Wait…" Atem attempted, holding his hands up in a surrendering gesture.

Clearly not about to listen, the guard snapped, "Resisting, eh? Fine, just die then!" He swung his sword at Atem, and the boy dodged.

The image paused, and then shattered. Battle music played as both Atem and the guard were positioned on the screen, both with their names and health bars hovering above their head.

"Time to learn how to fight!" Yugi said cheerfully, noticing how Yami perked up. Figuring he'd get a chance to play later, Yugi set his controller aside and settled in to watch. After Yami defeated the guard, he took the spoils - a basic sword and 30 gold - and exited the corridor.

[ Save Progress? ]

"You probably should," Yugi said.

Yami, who was about to select No, shrugged. "Alright then." He saved the game, and the loading screen appeared.

"We have school tomorrow… We should eat dinner and call it a day," Yugi added.

Yami nodded. He leaned forward and turned the Tv off. "Are you actually gonna eat?" he asked, heading to the kitchen.

Yugi shook his head. "I'm good," he said sheepishly, holding up the charger cord.

"Your loss."


	3. Chapter 3

"Just remember to smile, he says," Yugi muttered, standing nervously outside the doorway. The day had barely started but he felt the urge to go back home and sleep the day away. "Don't make a fool out of yourself, he says. Like that helps!" Working himself up into a panic, he almost missed the moment when the teacher called him in.

Trying not to trip, Yugi walked in stiffly.

"Introduce yourself!" the teacher said cheerfully, smiling at him.

Taking a deep breath, Yugi managed, "I'm Yugi…" He swallowed and bowed. "Nice to meet you." When he straightened, he was horrified to see some people giggling.

"You can sit next to Mokuba over there," the teacher directed him.

Relieved, Yugi hurried over to the seat and did his best to disappear into it.

As the teacher began her lecture, Yugi felt himself get elbowed in the side. He glanced to his right to see a short, shaggy-haired boy. "You're Yami's cousin, right?"

"Um, yeah," Yugi replied.

"I'm Mokuba," the boy introduced himself. He stared frankly at Yugi for a few seconds, and then said, "You know, Yami doesn't talk much about himself. I never knew he had a cousin… So what classes do you have?" When Yugi dug up his schedule and told him, Mokuba nodded to himself. "I have all those - except for 6th period, I have just Tech instead of Advanced Tech. Want me to show you around?"

"Yes please!" Yugi said fervently. He rested his head on his hands, feeling a slight ache in his forehead.

Mokuba grinned. "Alright. So first class is English." They looked up as the bell rang. "Oh, shoot… Hey, Ryou?" Mokuba said, turning away from Yugi. "What was she talking about?"

"Just a reminder that we don't have school tomorrow," came a quiet voice. Yugi got a glimpse of white hair before he had to hurry to follow Mokuba out the door. As they walked, Yugi knew he would get lost on his own. Sure, the classrooms were numbered…

And technically, he had a built-in GPS…

But it had a variation of 3 feet, which pretty much made it useless in the close and crowded halls of Domino High. There were so many people too - he didn't know where to look.

"Hey, hurry up!" Mokuba said, appearing from the crowd. He grabbed Yugi's hand and dragged him back into the fray.

By the time they reached the classroom, Yugi felt traumatized. There was no way he could manage another 5 classes. He would die. Or break. Or get horribly lost and then expelled. If he got expelled, would Yami's father think he's faulty and send him back…?

Yugi shivered.

Mokuba tapped his shoulder and whispered, "There aren't any empty seats near mine, but there's one at the front." He pointed.

Thanking Mokuba, Yugi walked up to the seat. He realized that not only was it in the front, it was in the middle. He sighed - mentally. Of course this was the only desk available. That was just his luck.

Just. His. Luck.

Like that time he happened to be home when…

"Are you new?" a blonde boy asked curiously. When Yugi nodded, the blonde smiled triumphantly. "I thought so! Honda said I was imagining things, but I knew no one sat there for the whole year!" He stuck out his hand. "I'm Jonouchi, nice to meet you."

Shaking his hand, Yugi stammered, "Er, yeah, nice to meet you. I'm Yugi."

Jonouchi turned to the boy on his left, "See? New! He's new! I told you!"

"Yeah, yeah," the brunette shook his head. He looked around Jonouchi, his face apologetic. "Sorry. He gets like this. I just didn't think anyone would transfer in here in the middle of the year. I'm Honda."

"Hi," Yugi offered.

"Oh boy."

Yugi turned to his right, where a girl with long black hair was looking away from them. When she noticed him looking at her, she forced a smile. "Sorry. It's just… those two get in trouble a lot. Try not to get caught up in their antics, alright?"

"Oh. Okay," Yugi said. He smiled back at her. "I'm Yugi. Who're you?"

"Ishizu," she replied.

And then looked away again.

Feeling disappointment settle in the pit of his stomach, Yugi crossed his arms and burrowed his still-throbbing head in them, vowing to pretend to sleep until the teacher came. As time went on, he wondered why the noise wasn't going down.

At all.

Then he heard a voice above his head say sternly, "I didn't realize my class was so boring that people slept in it."

If he still had blood Yugi would blush. As it was, he slowly lifted his head and apologized, staring at the desk.

"Right. Try not to next time."

He heard giggles mixed into the noise behind him as Yugi glanced at the board, frantically scribbling the notes down. It wasn't hard - his handwriting was incredibly neat, thanks to his programming, and his brain processed it in a way that he only needed one glance to memorize it. He probably wouldn't need to write it down, but he took notes for appearance.

No, this wasn't a hard fumble to recover from.

But that didn't stop the embarrassment that made him keep his head ducked as he wrote, and made him shrink into himself as he sat through the rest of the class. They couldn't still be staring at him… right?

Though his organic brain was convinced the class was still laughing at him.

Yugi glanced to his left to see that Jonouchi was asleep. Why wasn't the teacher calling him out? Was he special? Or was it such a regular occurrence that no one cared anymore…?

Actually, considering how Jonouchi acted, the latter wasn't too difficult to believe.

Yugi held in a chuckle, certain that would only get him in more trouble. He absently underlined an incorrectly spelled word from the example problem when he heard Ishizu mutter, "Great. Now two troublemakers sit beside me instead of one."

Just like that, his mood plummeted again.

And his headache got worse on top of it.

"Mokuba!" Yugi complained as they left the classroom to join the throng of students. "Why's school so hard?"

The kid laughed. "Come on, Yugi," he chuckled, guiding him into another hallway. "Shouldn't you be used to this by now? It's always - oh, take a left here." After steering Yugi, Mokuba continued, "Were you homeschooled? You don't seem like it that's why… Not that I'd know."

"No, I'm not," Yugi said.

"Mm. Oh, not that way." Mokuba tugged Yugi back from the doorway he'd been about to enter.

Yugi grimaced. "Ah, sorry." They continued walking.

Four more class periods convinced Yugi that he would be lost without Mokuba. Naturally, that was when he realized they had reached the time when he needed to take that one class Mokuba didn't have.

"Ugh…" Yugi stared at the crowd.

Mokuba laughed. "Good luck!" he said, patting his back before vanishing into the mass of people.

"Where's Advanced Tech again?" Yugi muttered, looking down at the schedule in his hand. The schedule read E-3. The classroom he just came out of said A-1. That meant he needed to find E building. Only… he couldn't remember any buildings designated with E. He scanned the rest of the schedule and noted none of his other classes had been in that building either.

Yugi blinked. He looked around, then hurried back into the class he had just left. "Excuse me," he said, catching the teacher's attention, "Where's building E?"

The man glanced at Yugi in irritation. "Where's building E?" he repeated. "That's not funny. Get to class already." Brushing him off, the teacher went back to his papers.

Yugi didn't understand.

Still, not wanting to further antagonize the teacher, he left the room. He set his processors whirring. He must be missing some piece of information. Where was it? Yugi ducked into the bathroom, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes.

He called up the digital copy of the schedule and ran through it briefly, not really expecting to find anything.

He paused on the last block: A-5.

Yugi started off in that direction, even as he looked back down at his schedule in confusion. There must have been a typing error… He slipped into class just before the bell rang, feeling relieved.

The relief faded when he noticed Mokuba sitting next to him. "Mokuba?" he said, startling the other boy.

Mokuba turned, and his eyes widened when he saw Yugi. "Y-Yugi?" he stammered, clearly surprised. "What are you doing here?!" The boy ran a hand through his already-messy hair, frowning in disappointment. Then he yelped as someone whacked his head.

"Don't play tricks on other people," another student scolded calmly. He smiled at Yugi apologetically. "I'm sorry about Mokuba. He liked to play elaborate pranks on people," he explained, holding out his hand. "I'm Ryou, by the way."

"Yugi," Yugi replied, shaking Ryou's hand. He took an instant liking to the soft-spoken boy, though he didn't quite understand what he meant. "Elaborate pranks?" he asked.

Ryou looked at Mokuba meaningfully. The boy sighed loudly. "I switched out your schedule when you weren't looking," he said exasperatedly. "I'm sorry. There! I apologized!"

"How did you…?"

"Don't ask," Ryou advised, his expression amused. He opened his mouth to say something more, but just then their conversation was interrupted.

"IF you boys don't mind," came a dangerous voice. All three looked up to see their Technology teacher staring down at them.

"Sorry," they chorused.

She raised an eyebrow at them, then walked away, continuing their lecture. Mokuba waited until she was a safe distance away before whispering, "So how did you figure out this was the right classroom anyway? There's no way you made it to the office in time - assuming you even knew there was no such thing as building E."

Yugi looked askance at Ryou, wondering if this was a regular thing.

The white-haired teen confirmed it when he said, "At least he didn't… well… there are worst things. He must really consider you a friend to only do that much."

"Shut up!" Mokuba hissed.

Yugi watched them bicker a bit before a question occurred to him. "Do you consider Yami a friend?" he asked.

They both shot him incredulous looks. "No way," Mokuba said. "He's such a loner. And he's scary. Who'd want a friend like him?" He frowned, then added, "I don't bother playing pranks on him."

"Only because you're scared," Ryou corrected him.

"Scared?" Yugi interjected, surprised. He couldn't imagine why anyone would be scared of Yami.

Ryou glanced at where the teacher stood before shrugging. "It's kind of weird," he told Yugi. "He didn't really stick out much when we were younger. Pretty normal, I guess."

"He avoided all of my traps, though," Mokuba added, frowning.

"One time there was this bully that transferred in," Ryou continued. "I think his name started with a U or something. Ushio! That's it. Anyway, he was roughing everyone up, giving people a hard time. That sort of thing."

"So what happened?"

Mokuba looked worried. "No one really knows. He dragged Yami into the bathroom one time. I was almost late to class, but neither of them was there when I arrived. Then the next day, Yami came to school as usual."

"And… Ushio?" Yugi asked.

Ryou shook his head. "He went missing. There was a big search and everything, but nothing ever turned up. There were a lot of rumors about Yami, but they died down eventually. This was in middle school, see? It wasn't that big of a deal."

Yugi blinked. "So, if it wasn't a big deal, what does that have to do with Yami having no friends?"

"Oh, well, the thing is..." Mokuba started. He hesitated. "That sort of thing kept happening. Bullies, sometimes teachers - whenever anyone picked on Yami, they went missing."

"You're his cousin, right?" Ryou asked. "What's he like at home?"

"Um, we're not really close," Yugi said. "I just got here. I don't know much about him."

Mokuba grinned, clapping him on the back. "Hang in there, then!" he said cheerfully, promptly earning an earful from their teacher, who had been passing by a second time.

Later that day, Yugi came home to find Yami sitting among scattered machine parts. Though he vaguely recognized some things, like the screwdriver, he found he couldn't identify most of the things Yami was using on first glance. And it would be a waste of time to look them all up.

"I'm back!" he said cheerfully, picking his way gingerly through the obstacle course.

Yami looked up as he reached the other side of the room. "Welcome back. How was school?"

Yugi considered the question. "Interesting," he decided, sitting down. "Why didn't you come?"

"I figured I'd give you a day to work out school on your own," Yami said dismissively. He picked up something and continued fiddling his computer, adding, "Why do you think my grades are so low? Did you think I wasn't smart enough?"

Yugi made a noncommittal sound, having not really given it any thought about it before.

"See?"

"What are you doing?" Yugi asked, changing the subject.

Yami started putting the computer back together. "I'm upgrading my computer. And also preventing automatic updates. I should've done this sooner, but I severely underestimated the inconvenience updates can cause. It took me ages to delete the changes." He looked at Yugi. "Did you make any friends?"

"Er, yes. Mokuba," Yugi replied. "And Ryou."

A look of surprise crossed Yami's face. "Mokuba? Wow. He usually plays pranks on newbies… Did he not with you?"

"All he did was change my schedule," Yugi admitted. "I have a digital copy to reference." He hesitantly asked, "Why don't you have any friends?"

Yami rolled his eyes. "I'm too awesome for them," he joked flippantly. He started piling tools into a bag, slowly clearing the floor. "Now come here, there's something I want to try."

"Like what?" Yugi asked warily, remembering Yami's comment about altering his eyesight.

"Just an experiment." Yami picked up a plasma cutter and looked at it thoughtfully. "I wanted to see if your hair holds dye or not."

Yugi frowned, though he was glad when Yami put the tool away with the rest. "Why would you want to know that?" he asked.

"Well, short of cutting it, it's the easiest way to see what your hair is made out of," Yami reasoned.

"Again… Why?"

"I'm curious," Yami answered, disappearing into the bathroom. He emerged with a bottle, a towel, and some gloves. "I've never done this before," he said cheerfully, "So we'll see how well this goes."

"Wait," Yugi said. "Did you at least look it up first?"

Yami smiled.

"So we should drape the towel over your shoulders," he said, starting to do so. Yugi resigned himself to his predicament, comforting himself with the thought that the color in Yami's hand was labelled black. And his hair was already strange anyway.

A few hours later, he stared disbelievingly in the mirror.

In as steady a voice he could manage, he said, "My hair is green." He shook his head. "Why is my hair green?"

"Well, Miho's hair is purple," Yami told him.

"But why is _my_ hair green? How did it even get green?" Yugi said. "I swear the dye bottle said black."

"Depending on what your hair is made out of, it could've been a chemical reaction," Yami hypothesized. ""Anyway, that was an old bottle. It probably had some other stuff in it, too."

"How am I supposed to go to school tomorrow?" Yugi panicked.

Yami rolled his eyes. "I don't even know why you're going to school. You don't have to." He brightened as he had an idea. "Hey, since you already had colorful hair in the beginning, we can just make this normal for you. We'll change the color every day. You just started, so no one's really going to know it's not something you're used to."

"Oh. Okay."

They sat in silence for a moment before Yami asked, "So have you met anyone else?"

"Um…" Yugi recalled the day in it's entirety, then remembered, "Oh! That's right, the recording you showed me at one point of Jonouchi. I met him."

Yami rolled his eyes. "I have plenty of recordings of different people. He's just fun to mess with, though."

"I see," Yugi said, disappointed. Then he blinked. "How did you get recordings of people?"

"That's easy!" Yami stood and beckoned for Yugi to follow. He led him to his room, opening one of the drawers. It was alarmingly full, jamming halfway. After pulling at it for a few seconds, Yami started pulling everything out, heaps of cables, discs, and colored plugs piling up around him.

Eventually he resurfaced, a notebook in his hand. "It was at the bottom," he explained, flipping it open. There was a map taped onto the page, circles penned in all over the place. Looking closer, Yugi realized it was of the school.

Yami gestured to the map. "I set up cameras all over the place," he told Yugi, pointing out the circles. "They record sound and video, and are insanely expensive. Luckily, my father's not too stingy with his money. At least as long as I don't tell him I spent it."

He got a thoughtful look on his face. "Sometimes I ask. In those case, it's usually better not to tell him exactly what I'm spending it on." Yami flipped a few pages.

Yugi looked at the receipt stapled there. "…How many times is that folded?"

"I'm not really going to check," Yami said, closing the notebook. "It took ages to make it fit." He put aside the notebook and turned on one of the monitors. "See? We can see what's going on in the school right now."

It flickered to an image of a janitor was lugging trash through the hallway, a disgruntled look on his face.

Yugi grabbed a cord and plugged himself into the computer.

"Oh… wow…" he breathed, flicking through the camera views quickly. He'd seen it on the map, but it was another thing to actually view the school from every corner. There was even one in the broom closet - though he noticed there were none in the bathrooms.

When he asked Yami, the teen shrugged. "I don't want to watch what goes on in there," he grimaced.

"True," Yugi agreed. Then he realized something. "You weren't keeping track of me, were you?" he accused.

Yami smiled shamelessly. "I was worried. How am I supposed to keep a proper eye on you when we have different schedules?" He leaned forward, rewinding the videos until sometime that morning. Then he switched cameras, bringing an image of Yugi onto the screen.

Yugi groaned. "You stalker!"


End file.
